Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr

Finding the sweet spot where the exploratory currents of Jazz meet the forcefulness of Rock, is the core of (Exit) Knarr’s aims. This brief  –  barely 33 minute – session demonstrate this fruitful mixture as a group of international improvisers saturate five tunes with balanced intensity.

While Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is the band’s designed leader, he mostly sticks to rhythmic amplification alongside fellow Norwegian, drummer Olaf Moses Olsen. Only on the concluding title track does he introduce thick strokes at the top and maintain a continuum throughout.

“Breezy”, dedicated to the late Jaimie Branch is itself a microcosm of what the band does while mixing elegy with elation. Following Swedish pianist Oscar Grönberg’s mordant prelude paced with synthesizer shudders from Norwegian Joakim Rainer Petersen, drum crashes and keyboard clips help move Danish trumpeter Erik Kimestad Pedersen’s bugling variations on “Taps” into a defiant Jazz groove.  Paced by an unvarying bass line and guitar frails from American Jonathan Horne undulating squeaks and doits from Danish alto saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and Swedish tenor saxophonist Karl Hjalmar Nyberg frame the trumpeter spearing triplets into the stratosphere.

Both sides of the musical equation are expressed on other tracks as well. Variations in pitch and tempo allow for pivots such as reggae-Rock style drumming and flanged Metal guitar riffs sharing space, or others which mark a mid-track changes of pace with riffing and overblowing reed undulations and the pianist’s lyrical interludes.

“Free The Jazz” also contains elements with which the core septet arrives at a mid ground between “Ascension” and “The Assassin”.  Drum thumps, double bass pops, keyboard pounding and horn section vamps alternate with Rasmussen’s and Nyberg’s solo spots that squeeze, slurs and smear altissimo split tones and tonguing vibrations that ascend to elevated pitches than even the New Thing saxophonists attained.

Notably efficient in reaching its admixture goals  with Breezy, the band should remain a distinct and potent force just as long as one of its musical influences doesn’t overwhelm the other.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1.  Dylar 2.  Free The Jazz 3. Hilma* 4. Ability+ 5. Breezy+

Personnel: Erik Kimestad Pedersen (trumpet); Mette Rasmussen (alto saxophone); Karl Hjalmar Nyberg (tenor and soprano saxophones); Oscar Grönberg (piano); Joakim Rainer Petersen (synthesizer)+; Jonathan F. Horne (guitar); Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir (guitar)*; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass); Olaf Moses Olsen (drums)